Forty Winters takes on the World

“This is our first official headlining tour and it has been a lot of fun. We are fortunate to have a lot on our plate, so we just try to keep up with that.”

Xavier Vicuna of Forty Winters talked to us about how to classify the band, his dream ticket, and what the future holds.

“We are really excited about the new stuff. We just got the final cut of the new material. We are launching a new song on a third party website in the next few days hopefully.” (Edit: You can check it out here.)

It will be a three song EP called the Isolation Sessions. “It is a pretty unofficial release for us. We are doing it to get music out to our fans. We just want to share the music with people that care about us. So for us, it is very important. We have been pretty much on tour the last two years so it is time for new music.”

“The EP will be available via bandcamp. It is all about the fans and giving back. We’ve had people that care – and this is all for them completely.”

Xavier followed that with a sentiment that I always love hearing. “We don’t take any of it for granted. We are fortunate as hell to be here.”

Forty Winters will be at Pensacola’s Handlebar, Sunday October 20th. “We are stoked about Pensacola. We’ve played there a few times. The kids are nuts out there so it is awesome.”

So how does the band label themselves in the murky world of metal hybrid bands? “It is always a little hard, but over the years we have kind of developed into calling it mosh-metal. It is really heavy and pretty ‘moshy’. It is a blend of metal and hardcore.”

“It is just natural for us to play hardcore, intense metal.”

Xavier sees the hybrid feel as having an even further benefit for the band. “We are fortunate enough to play with hardcore bands and to play with metal bands. It usually works out. We are just happy to play with any group.”

About the name Forty Winters? It comes from Shakespeare of all places. “It is sketchy. I was into Shakespeare a lot when I was in school. We actually were using a name that was already copy written. We were just kids that didn’t know what we were doing.”

“It is the first two lines of sonnet number two that just kind of stuck with me and everybody was down. It just stuck. It is not super brutal and metal, but it is all about the content.”

What’s next for the band? “We have two weeks to regroup (after this tour) and then we will right back out. We will be playing Central America in November, playing Costa Rica and Panama. And that is all the tours that I’m allowed to talk about right now.”

Who would Xavier love to share a stage with? Slipknot. “It would be the coolest thing in the world to play with Slipknot, for sure. They are a huge influence on us and me in particular. That would be amazing.”